1. Field
The invention relates to the field of data transport, and more particularly, to testing isochronous data transport over an asynchronous bus.
2. Background Information
In digital systems, data may be transferred between devices and a shared resource (for example, a memory). The data may be transferred in units known as transactions. A transaction is a collection of information necessary to initiate or complete an operation, such as an operation to read data from memory or write data to memory. A shared bus may be employed for such transactions. The bus may employ various contention strategies, including arbitration rules, to manage concurrent demands for the bus from multiple sources. Of course, regarding references to a bus xe2x80x9chavingxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cemployingxe2x80x9d, etc. a contention scheme it should be understood that such contention schemes are typcially provided and enforced by bus controller circuits coupled to the bus, and devices coupled to the bus which cooperate with the bus controller. Arbitration rules commonly depend on some form of priority settings to resolve access contention. One strategy of contention resolution is often referred to as xe2x80x9casynchronousxe2x80x9d. Asynchronous strategies depend more strongly on priorities assigned to contending uses than on timely disposition of individual transactions. A transaction (for example a read or write request) may occasionally encounter long, unpredictable delays while pending transfer over an asynchronous bus.
Buses employing asynchronous contention resolution may be subject to several factors that interfere with timely transfer of transactions. Typically, an entire transaction may be transferred across the bus before control of the bus is relinquished to other transactions. While a transaction is in progress, a pending transaction (one awaiting transfer over the bus) must await the next arbitration opportunity. An arbitration opportunity is a point in time at which the control logic for the bus determines which transaction pending on the bus will be next transferred. Time thus spent is referred to as xe2x80x9ccollision delayxe2x80x9d.
Once the current transaction is ended the pending transaction may encounter further delay. This further delay may result when another transaction is pending with higher priority. This is referred to as xe2x80x9carbitration delayxe2x80x9d.
Once the pending transaction obtains access to the bus, a finite time may elapse before the transaction has been transferred in its entirety across the bus. This is referred to as xe2x80x9ctransmission delayxe2x80x9d. All three types of delay are common in buses employing priority-based contention resolution, i.e. asynchronous buses. The combined effect of these delays may be to render the completion time of a transaction unpredictable and perhaps even unbounded. Many media-oriented devices (audio and video capture and playback devices, for example) may depend on timely transactions for correct operation. Isochronous devices require the transfer of up to a specified maximum amount of data X, via one or more transactions, during each period in a series of time periods of fixed duration T. This requirement (henceforth referred to as the isochronous X-T contract) may be difficult to accomplish in light of the unpredictable delivery times afforded by asynchronous data transfer strategies.
Supporting isochronous devices using an asynchronous bus may be accomplished using various buffering and flow-control techniques. However, many buffering techniques rely upon excessive buffer sizes. These excessive buffer sizes attempt to account for the unpredictable delays inherent with asynchronous buses. Excessive buffering may add undesirable processing delay, cost, and circuit size to components that implement an X-T contract. Flow-control may add unnecessary complexity to such components as well.
Thus, there is a continuing need for circuits which support isochronous data transfer over asynchronous busses. As such circuits are developed, there arises a need for systems and methodologies for thoroughly testing such circuits.
A method includes setting a contention scheme for an asynchronous bus such that the contention delay of isochronous transactions on the bus is bounded, and establishing an isochronous interface between at least two devices, the isochronous interface supporting an X-T contract. A number of isochronous transactions and corresponding return transactions delivered across the bus is measured during a specified time interval.